Ryan ppl barely attend these games as seen in turkey. Final might get 12-15 but wont be a sellout. Nowhere near
Wrong, wrong, wrong!!! Actually when we hosted the FIFA u-17 World Cup in 1999 attendances were very good - I remember large crowds at QEII Stadium for group games - many thousands just at group games and that pattern was repeated all around NZ.
Even the Third place Play-off attracted 15,675 to North Harbour in the rain!
FIFA U-17 World Cup Final, North Harbour Stadium 1999: crowd of 22,859
We will get bigger attendances at the u-20 World Cup. Turkey was not typical at all! (even the u-17 World Cup usually attracts big crowds: Mexico 2011 avge attendance was 19,275 !!!)
FIFA u-20 World Cup stats (attds last page): http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mencompu20/51/98/26/ip-305_01a_u20-stats.pdf
All tournaments 1977- 2009: total spectators = 9,807,456; Avge spectators/ game = 16,346
Canada might be similar to NZ (football not the #1 sport, no regular exposure to top level matches). The 2007 tournament in Canada: avge crowds = 22,985 !!!
FIFA u-17 World Cup NZ 1999 - Good detail on Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_FIFA_U-17_World_Championship
North Harbour group games: Even NZ's opening match against USA had a crowd of 14,103 !!! USA V Poland: 10,265 (avge crowd about 9000)
McLean Park, Napier - smallest town hosting games: attds from 3950 to 5200
QEII Stadium, Chch: 4000- 6500
Carisbrook, Dunedin: 2180 - 5173
Quarters: 3500, 5600, 7251, 7483
Semis: USA v Australia, Chch: 5000; Brazil v Ghana, North Harbour: 12,451
Third Place Play-off Ghana v USA, North Harbour: 15,675
The FIFA u-17 World Cup Final North Harbour 1999: Crowd of 22,859 (despite steady rain all day)!!!!
http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/tournament=102/edition=3611/news/newsid=71550.html
"On a day when football in New Zealand set a record for crowd attendance....a crowd of 22,859 paying spectators crammed the Stadium despite a steady drizzle to watch Brazil and the Australians..."
Some official stats- http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/tournament=102/edition=3611/
and comparison to other u-17 World Cups attendances:
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/tournaments/tournament=102/
NZ 1999: avge attendance was 6776 Total attendance:216,853